Customer Reviews

Lake Placid: An Olympic History

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Armchair Olympic fans will love this! Great vintage newsreel footage from America's first Winter Olympics perfectly woven together with film from America's greatest Winter Olympics. The best thing...they both took place in the same small Adirondack Village! The III Olympic Winter Games held in 1932 saw the USA win every speed skating event and both bobsleigh events, a record that has never been equaled. Great original film captures so much of the excitement of the day. However, the real story of America's original winter resort truly comes together with the XIII Olympic Winter Games held in Lake Placid in 1980. Reliving the "Miracle on Ice" USA hockey victory and Eric Heiden's 5 gold medal performace in speed skating is something you'll never forget. The footage of what went on behind the scenes to make each Olympic Games a success adds a realism that you don't find in many documentaries. A great production!

What a wonderful documentary. It is greatly detailed with wonderful footage and photographs. If you don't know much about Lake Placid or why so many people love this little town, you will after watching this production. It was very well done and I don't think you'll find any other good source about Lake Placid. You get the feeling that you were right there while these events were happening. The Rev. Bernie Fell sums it up best."How does a little like this command so much attention, why are you so different from every other small snowbell town. It is people who dream dreams. People whos interest lie not in personal fame and glory, but in building better things for yet a better time.

from "Legacies of North American Winter Games: Lake Placid 1980," a report commissioned by the Vancouver Olympics Organizing Committee:

Former Lake Placid News reporter Marc Nathanson made an excellent documentary on the Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games, called "Lake Placid: An Olympic History," unearthing rare footage and tape recordings that detail the history of the town and give an excellent idea of the nature of its Olympic Games. Its conclusion sums up the Lake Placid experience superbly:

"Over the course of a century Lake Placid has grown from an unknown mountain village into America's winter sports capital, driven by a can-do attitude and an unshakable spirit. It's the same spirit you see in the eyes of a young figure skater practicing her routine late at night in the Olympic Center or in the determined gaze of a luge racer about to take an early-morning practice run down the Mount Van Hoevenberg track. It is the spirit of the Olympics - the reason why Lake Placid is home to some of the greatest moments in sports history, and all those historic moments yet to come."